Commentary - 2 Chronicles 28:22-27

Bird's-eye view

In this grim conclusion to the reign of Ahaz, we are given a case study in how a hard heart responds to divine discipline. God had brought military distress upon Ahaz and Judah for their rampant unfaithfulness. A wise man, a godly king, would have been driven to his knees in repentance. But Ahaz is a fool, and so in his distress, he doubles down on his rebellion. This passage details the final, frantic acceleration of his apostasy. He adopts the gods of the very enemies who defeated him, a move of breathtaking spiritual stupidity. He then launches a full-scale assault on the worship of Yahweh, not just neglecting it, but actively dismantling it. He desecrates the holy vessels, shutters the Temple, and erects pagan altars throughout the capital and the entire country. This is not a man drifting into error; this is a man declaring all-out war on the God of his fathers. The passage concludes with his death and dishonorable burial, a fitting end for a king who led his people into ruin and whose life was a monument to the insanity of idolatry.

The central lesson here is that affliction does not automatically produce repentance. It simply reveals what is already in the heart. Pressure will either crush a man into the dust of humility or bake his rebellious heart into a brick of defiance. Ahaz chose the latter, and his end serves as a stark warning against the folly of fighting against God. The harder God struck him, the more unfaithful he became, proving that his problem was not ignorance but intractable rebellion.

Outline

Context In 2 Chronicles

This passage is the capstone of a truly wretched reign. The earlier parts of chapter 28 detail the covenant curses that fell upon Ahaz for his idolatry. He had suffered devastating military defeats at the hands of Aram (Syria) and Israel, resulting in massive casualties and captives. God was clearly disciplining His people through these pagan nations. The verses here (22-27) record Ahaz's official response to this divine chastisement. Instead of turning back to Yahweh, who was the ultimate cause of his distress, he turns to the gods of his conquerors. This section, therefore, is not the cause of God's judgment but rather the final, defiant proof of Ahaz's utter depravity in the face of it. It sets a dark and desperate stage, making the subsequent reforms of his son, Hezekiah (chapter 29), appear all the more glorious and miraculous. Ahaz represents the nadir of Judah's covenant unfaithfulness, while Hezekiah represents the dawn of a God-given revival.

Key Issues

The Logic of a Fool

The logic of King Ahaz is the logic of a cornered fool. When God brings trouble into our lives, He is speaking to us. The trouble is a megaphone. For the righteous, it is a call to repentance and deeper trust. For the wicked, it is a warning of judgment to come. But there is a third category, represented here by Ahaz: the man who hears the megaphone and decides to shout back insults. He reasons this way: "The God I have been nominally serving has allowed me to be defeated. The gods of my enemies have allowed them to win. Therefore, the winning gods must be stronger. I will switch my allegiance to the winning team."

This is what we might call pragmatic idolatry. It is a consumeristic approach to religion, where gods are evaluated based on their perceived performance and ability to deliver the goods. But notice the profound blindness of it. Ahaz fails to see that it was Yahweh, the God of Israel, who handed him over to the Arameans as a form of judgment. His enemies' gods did not defeat Yahweh; Yahweh used his enemies to discipline Ahaz. To abandon Yahweh and worship the gods of Aram is like a rebellious son, after being spanked by his father with a belt, deciding to honor and obey the belt. It is utter madness, a complete misreading of reality. This is where sin always leads: to a profound and self-destructive stupidity.

Verse by Verse Commentary

22 Now in the time of his distress this same King Ahaz became yet more unfaithful to Yahweh.

The Chronicler makes the connection explicit. It was precisely in the time of his distress, the very moment when he should have been crying out to God for mercy, that he ramped up his rebellion. The phrase "this same King Ahaz" carries a tone of disgust and astonishment. This is the man who had already sacrificed his own sons, and now, even after catastrophic military defeat, he learns nothing. Instead of softening his heart, the pressure hardens it. This is a terrifying picture of human depravity. God's discipline, intended to lead to repentance, can, in a heart committed to its sin, produce only greater defiance. The trouble did not create his unfaithfulness; it revealed the depth of it.

23 Indeed, he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had struck him, and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they became the stumbling of him and all Israel.

Here we see the fool's logic laid bare. He articulates his insane theological innovation. Since the gods of Aram were on the winning side, he will co-opt them. This is the essence of paganism; it is fundamentally about manipulation, not worship. He is not bowing in adoration; he is attempting a business transaction with what he perceives to be a more powerful deity. The result is stated plainly: these new gods did not help him. Instead, they became his stumbling, the very cause of his ruin. And because he is the king, his personal stumbling block becomes a national catastrophe. His sin trips up "all Israel." A king never sins in a private capacity; his rebellion always drags his people down with him.

24 Ahaz gathered together the utensils of the house of God. Then he cut the utensils of the house of God in pieces; and he closed the doors of the house of Yahweh and made altars for himself in every corner of Jerusalem.

This is not mere neglect of true worship; this is a violent and systematic dismantling of it. Gathering the holy utensils, the cups and basins dedicated to Yahweh, and cutting them to pieces is an act of supreme contempt. It's like tearing up a peace treaty in the face of an opposing king. Then, he shuts the doors of the Temple. This is a formal, public declaration. He is, in effect, locking God out of His own house. He excommunicates Yahweh from the capital city. In place of the one true altar, he erects a multitude of false ones, one on "every corner of Jerusalem." He is decentralizing and democratizing idolatry, making it convenient, accessible, and pervasive. He is replacing the singular, authoritative worship of God with a pluralistic, man-made, street-corner religion.

25 Now in each and every city of Judah he made high places to offer offerings in smoke to other gods, and provoked Yahweh, the God of his fathers, to anger.

The apostasy that began in the king's heart and was institutionalized in Jerusalem now metastasizes throughout the entire kingdom. The cancer spreads from the head to the whole body. In every city, he establishes official, state-sponsored centers of pagan worship. The result of this nationwide campaign of idolatry is stated in stark, covenantal terms: he provoked Yahweh... to anger. This is not the language of impersonal consequences. This is the language of a personal, covenantal relationship being betrayed. He is cheating on the God of his fathers, the God who had entered into a binding, loyal love with Israel. This is spiritual adultery on a national scale, and it invites the righteous jealousy and wrath of God.

26 Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

This is the standard formula concluding a king's reign. The Chronicler is saying, "If you think what I have written is bad, you should consult the official records. There's plenty more where this came from." His entire reign, from start to finish, was a consistent testimony to his wickedness.

27 So Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel; and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Ahaz dies, as all wicked kings do. But his end is marked with a final, public disgrace. He is buried in Jerusalem, but pointedly not... in the tombs of the kings. This was a posthumous verdict on his reign. The people recognized that his leadership was so catastrophic, so treasonous, that he did not deserve to be honored by burial with the faithful kings of David's line. His life was a failure, and his death was a disgrace. But the verse does not end there. It ends with a note of hope, a reminder of God's sovereign faithfulness despite man's rebellion: "and Hezekiah his son became king in his place." The line of David continues. The covenant promises of God are not thwarted by one wicked king. A great reformer is about to take the throne, and the darkness of Ahaz's reign will make the light of Hezekiah's revival shine all the brighter.

Application

The story of Ahaz is a mirror in which we must examine ourselves. We live in a time of distress, and the temptation to follow Ahaz's logic is ever-present. When our prayers are not answered the way we want, when our business fails, when our health declines, when our nation seems to be collapsing, where do we turn? Do we run to the God who is sovereign over our distress, or do we, like Ahaz, look around at the world, see who is "winning," and adopt their gods? The gods of our age are success, comfort, security, and political power. It is very easy to begin sacrificing to them, thinking they might help us.

Ahaz's story teaches us that this kind of pragmatic idolatry is not just wrong, it is stupid. It never works. The gods of this world are liars, and they always become a stumbling block to those who trust in them. Furthermore, we must be wary of any impulse to edit, dismantle, or "improve" the worship of God. Ahaz shut the Temple doors and set up his own altars because he thought he had a better way. We do the same when we neglect the gathering of the saints, when we treat the sacraments with contempt, or when we replace the simple preaching of the Word with seeker-sensitive entertainment. We are, in effect, cutting up the utensils and building altars on every street corner.

The only hope is to see that we have a better king than Ahaz. Jesus Christ, in His time of ultimate distress on the cross, did not become more unfaithful, but was perfectly obedient. He did not sacrifice to other gods but sacrificed Himself to the one true God. He did not close the temple but tore the veil, opening the way into the Holy of Holies for all who trust in Him. Ahaz is a picture of our natural, sinful response to pressure. Christ is the picture of perfect faithfulness, and it is only by clinging to Him that we can be saved from our inner Ahaz.